MY LIFE IN TRAINS
Lineside and Station Sequences
Part Three
Ponders End for Half an Hour – 21 August 1959
and Luton Midland Road Station – 5 September 1959
Back from Switzerland, after a couple of weeks I returned to one of my original spotting locations. Why only half an hour – I’ve no idea! Maybe I ran out of film, and stayed much longer. The glory days of Britannia Pacifics on Norwich expresses via Cambridge were over, but there was still plenty to see on the old Great Eastern line to Cambridge.
My Dad’s half brother lived in Luton, and we visited on the trusty BSA Gold Flash with Mum on pillion and me in the sidecar. After breakfast on the next morning, before more family talk, Dad took me to Luton Midland station for a couple of hours.
Many of these photos were included in the My Story series, but without the times, so I’ve repeated them here to show how many trains could be seen in a short time.
All Photographs by Alan Lewis Chambers ©
13:03 My first train spotting location - future spotters wave to WD 2-8-0 No 90062 as it clanks through Ponders End towards Stratford
on 21 August 1959.
13:15 LNER O1 2-8-0 No 63646 hauls an up class H freight through Ponders End on 21 August 1959.
13:17 Great Eastern J15 0-6-0 No 65476 passes Ponders End heading north from Temple Mills with a Cambridge line local freight on 21 August 1959.
13:21 The second LNER B1 4-6-0 No 61001 'Eland' heads and express south through Ponders End on 21 August 1959.
13:30 Brush Type 2 No D5519 calls at Ponders End with a stopping train to Liverpool Street on 21 August 1959.
9:15 LMSR Caprotti Black Five 4-6-0 No 44757 at Luton on a northbound express on 5 September 1959.
9:40 LMSR Jubilee 4-6-0 No 45607 'Fiji' heads an up express through Luton on 5 September 1959.
9:55 LMSR Black Five 4-6-0 No 44822 pauses with a southbound parcels train at Luton on 5 September 1959.
11:00 LMSR Black Five 4-6-0 No 45447 heads an up express through Luton past the water tower on 5 September 1959.
